Developing / gaming rig suggestions

[Diademed]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Developing, gaming.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
~$1500 or so, budget isn't really an issue, but I'm not the sort to drop an extra $1k for a 10% performance gain.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
None.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Monitors / accessories & P182.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
Of course.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Not aggressively; stability is most important, but I'm not unfamiliar with doing it.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Hopefully within the next couple of weeks. I.e.: soon.

Right now I'm looking at:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
One of the Abit IP35's
4gb DDR2, whatever's on sale with decent timings when I pull the trigger
An 8800 of some flavor, probably a 512 GT.

Another consideration is relative silence.

I'm curious as to what 120mm fans, power supplies, and CPU coolers you've had success with. I'm unwilling to pay much for a power supply (>$50-60) as they seem to have an extraordinarily high failure in my area (I've gone through 4 in my current rig).

I guess what I'm really asking, aside from the obvious 'HELP ME' connotations, is specifically which 'quiet' components have worked well (preferably not with an 18" tower of heatpipes and fins), and just a quick verification that my previous choices were reasonable.

Thanks!

 

[DSF]

The Scythe slipstream fans are great case fans, but they aren't designed to be used as heatsink fans. Also, I've heard they're not quite as quiet laid flat (like the top exhaust in the P182.) Stand them up in the traditional orientation and they're very quiet. Highly recommend them.

Video cards are cheap enough that with your budget I'd look at an 8800GTS 512MB over the 8800GT.

What kind of development are you doing? Does it fully utilize quad core? If not, the quad core isn't going to make much difference in gaming in the near future.

By the way, especially if your area has bad power, buying a cheap power supply is a bad idea. A cheap power supply is going to have a greater chance of failing, potentially taking other components with it, and it also won't be as good at smoothing out the bad power for your computer.

 

[Diademed]

Thanks for the recommendation on the fans & vcard. I am fairly set on a Q-core, I can afford the extra expense even if it is just an advantage on paper, and there's just something about seeing four core-usage meters.

As far as the power supplies go, I agree with you, but I've gone through four in the last 2 years, in three different houses (college kid), and it didn't matter what they were (started with an Antec TRUE 430, then a Thermaltake, both rather pricey, before starting to spring for the cheap ones, and they've all lasted the same time, roughly. The cheap ones actually gave me better stability in my rails.

 

[Urtho]

Originally posted by: Diademed

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450

This is a great choice if you really are set on a Quad but the main problem you'll have with this CPU is actually finding it in-stock. I haven't seen it actually available anywhere for at least a week now, not since that Microcenter deal. Intel is only trickling out the 45nm quad production right now as they don't really need to ramp up all that hard given the weak competition coming out of AMD these days. Supposedly this will be changing "soon", but only they know for sure when exactly that soon will be.

As for PSUs, this one from Corsair has been recommended by many in here of late. Good solid rating at 520W for your needs and modular cables are always a plus.